“…Miss This And Blame Yourself!” – Mottley Promotes CARIFESTA

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Chair, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, has urged the Region to attend CARIFESTA XV, the arts festival in Barbados from 22-31 August 2025. In her New Year statement, Mottley said the event will be an ideal platform for the Region to build resilience by celebrating the Community’s rich, diverse cultures. She emphasised that the festival will be an occasion to “celebrate all that is good and is possible for our Caribbean civilisation, as we do what we do best in the expression of our Festival of Arts – CARIFESTA.” “As we would say in Barbados, “miss this and blame yourself.” Food and fashion, music and dance, art, craft, sculpture and good old Caribbean talk from philosophy to attitudes, from religion to development. Let us use this as an opportunity to build resilience in our Region spiritually and psychologically. Let us gather and feed our souls and nurture our spirit as Caribbean people,” she urged. Planning for CARIFESTA XV has already begun with virtual meetings in September and November 2024 involving the CARICOM Secretariat and officials from the Barbados Prime Minister’s Office and Division of Culture. Trinidad and Tobago held the last CARIFESTA in 2019. The article “…Miss...